


Bones and Bonds (working title)

by Sylenis



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Broken Bones, F Bombs, F/M, Female Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, Other, Post S8, background Shatt, everyone has PTSD, injuries, medication/drug use, ok we got talk of, slowburn, the others will make appearances - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-30
Updated: 2020-01-26
Packaged: 2020-11-08 15:01:45
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 11,228
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20837456
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sylenis/pseuds/Sylenis
Summary: Rated M for now, it'll probably get bumped up to E later.It's been several years since they defeated Honerva and the Paladins of Voltron have set out to try and get back into living.Keith needs a place to stay on Earth, and Pidge so happens to have somewhere.In my notes this is called "the roommate AU where Keith and Pidge are both horny, PTSD-ridden messes" so expect mess and horniness in later chapters.





	1. Two Years

**Author's Note:**

> This is all over the place and very long but, I know where it is going, how it will end, and 90% of what will happen in between.

*

Next time, Keith supposed it might be a good idea to ask Pidge about the accessibility of her apartment. Third floor wasn't too bad, but he did have to give himself a second- dropping his bag with a heavy thud and sitting back on it to let his face cool off, crutch balanced on his lap before he could even think of knocking. She could have warned him that the lift was undergoing maintenance; just his luck considering this apartment complex seemed pretty nice otherwise. It was clean, bright and even had a human at the door that had to check his ID before buzzing him through.  
  
The wolf nudged his arm with his muzzle, and Keith tilted his head where he'd let it fall back against the wall, looking into his yellow eyes. The door-watcher-buzzer guy had apparently been warned by Pidge that a man with a 'large dog' would be visiting, but he'd still stared, slack-jawed at the luminescent creature whose shoulders reached Keith's hip.  
  
"Dunno if this place will be big enough for you, bud. We might have to sort something else out for you." He muttered, patting his muzzle before stabbing the bottom of the crutch into the hard floor and heaving himself up. "We'll see in a minute."   
  
Leaning on the crutch, he buzzed the little intercom numbered '304', and waited. After a moment he knocked, and after another moment buzzed again.   
  
He fumbled for his datapad and checked the information he'd entered next to her name a few nights ago. And then went back through their chat log to double check what she'd written. Clearwater Building, Apt 304- the address he'd given the cab driver. Sharing a glance with the wolf, he knocked again. Still no answer. The wolf whined and Keith raised a brow at him.  
"No, we're not just teleporting in. That would be intruding."   
He whined again and vanished with a pop, leaving Keith alone in the corridor.  
  
Just as he stomped back to his discarded bag to sit down and type out a message, the sound of hurried footsteps reached his ears and he looked up to a familiar figure. Pidge was running up the corridor, clutching a backpack nearly as big as her, hair flying around her face, strands of her fringe sticking to her flushed forehead and cheeks.  
  
She stopped by her door, dumping the bag similarly to the way he'd dropped his, wheezing with her hands planted on her knees. When she straightened up he could see her denim jacket was buttoned up wrong, pens and a stylus jammed into the tie on her ponytail.   
  
"I'm sorry- So sorry- my class ran late-"   
"It's fine-" Keith started, "I've not been here long." He saw Pidge's gaze fall on his crutch and her eyes widen in horror and held back his own grimace.   
"Shit, I meant to message you this morning, the lift!"  
"Maintenance, yeah. I know."  
"I'm sorry-" Pidge repeated, but Keith cut her off.  
  
"It's fine. You wanna get the door?" He picked up his bag, and Pidge started guiltily, turning to the door and popping back a flap to scan her palm. The door clicked open, but instead of walking through it, Pidge stood in the way and turned back to him.  
  
"Before we go in, you have to know- I didn't forget you were coming, I _promise_." She said, staring up at him, still a little pink in the face.  
"Right, OK?" Keith shrugged, completely nonplussed.  
"What I mean by that is, I planned to tidy up, and I was gonna get groceries and stuff- get you all set up and have my shit completely together, but before I knew it, it was Thursday and you were arriving, and- just... Just don't judge, OK?"  
"Pidge, you're putting me up in your space, for free. It's this or a motel, or a bunk at the Garrison. Can we just go in?"   
  
Pidge nodded, sighed, and pushed the door open.   
The hallway was made narrow by a shoe rack littered with coloured sneakers, boots and backpacks against one wall, and a low cabinet on the other piled with mail and leaflets and a green umbrella with cartoony frog eyes propped up next to it. Pidge eased her way through, current backpack held high and Keith copied her, pulling his crutch up for the time being until the little corridor opened up into the living area, the floor set a little lower so they had to step down to enter. 

  
  
The wolf had been making himself comfortable on a squashy looking couch and upon seeing them enter, disappeared and re-materialized above Pidge, knocking her to the floor and snuffling excitedly at her face.   
  
"Kosmo- ah! Hello to you too!" She choked out between giggles, pushing at the furry chest that pinned her to the floor and Keith bent to shove at the wolf himself.  
"Come on you ass, let her up."  
Obediently he backed up and sat to attention, letting Pidge get back to her feet, face a little slobbery but no worse for wear.  
  
There was a sofa and an armchair in the living area- the sofa now had a fine dusting of blue hairs sticking to the mint throw and rumpled cushions, complete with a wolf shaped indent. One wall was completely taken up by shelves crammed with textbooks, hard drives, what looked like a collection of old jewel disc cases, a unit dedicated to comic books and even a stuffed mermaid doll peeking out from one shelf.   
The low table in the middle also had books piled on and underneath it, papers scattered across the smooth white surface and pens gathered inside a coffee mug.   
  
Pidge winced as she caught him looking at the room; every spare surface was taken up with books or computer pieces or old mugs. The sink was full of dishes and there was a coat that had been aimed at one of the high stools in the kitchen area, but had missed and was crumpled on the floor.  
  
"I warned you, I meant to tidy up before you got here. I did at least get the bathroom and your room spruced up though."   
The sofa the wolf had claimed was backed up against a section of a half-wall that separated off the lounge from the kitchen area, but she led him past that and to a door on the opposite end of the room.  
  
"This is yours," Pidge pushed open the door to a smaller room. The carpet had the telltale tracks of a recent vacuum cleaning session, the bed was made with crisp aqua blue sheets, an extra comforter and set of towels sitting on a small corner desk. It was left mostly plain- white walls, the wooden furniture was stained light. It would have felt like a hotel room except for the boxes of books and discs peeking out from under the bed, and the blinds on the window were open, letting the last of the evening sun in and making the room look warmer.  
  
"There's a lock on the door so you can hole up in here and have all the privacy you want." She said, and crossed to the dresser against the wall. "The top two drawers are empty- there's some of Matt's clothes in the bottom drawer from when he visits- he won't mind if you need to borrow anything-" Her eyes fell on the bag on his shoulder- pretty small considering how long he was supposed to be staying. "Are you OK for clothes and stuff?"   
Keith shrugged. "I have some stuff in storage, I can go get it."  
"Cool." Pidge nodded. and then tapped the wardrobe door with her knuckles. "There's a rail in there if you wanna hang anything. There is... I've got some more coursework in here and under the bed. I don't _think _I'll need any of it for the next few weeks, but if I do I'll knock, OK?"  
  
Keith couldn't help the little snort in response. Just as he'd thought she couldn't possibly cram anymore paperwork into this apartment, she'd proved him wrong again. He dreaded to think what her room looked like, but honestly it was comforting. There were few constants in life, but Pidge hoarding and collecting knowledge like a dragon's cache of treasure was one of those things that would never change.   
  
"I'll let you get settled," Pidge was saying, and he looked back up as she headed back to the doorway. "there's plenty of soap and shampoo and stuff in the bathroom if you wanna get a shower- towels over there-" She pointed at the little desk, "If there's anything you need I'm gonna do a grocery run on Saturday and I _will_ clean up the place too- it's my day off. But dude, just treat this place as your own, OK? I'm out a lot, so you've got the run of the place in the daytime. As long as you don't set anything on fire I don't really mind what you get up to."  
  
"I'm not gonna set the place on fire."  
"That's what Lance said." Pidge grumbled, and nodded towards the desk where underneath, Keith could make out the remains of scorch marks in the wall.  
"What the-?"  
"Exactly." Pidge was out of the room and gone before he could ask for an explanation.  
  
*  
  
The shower was good- the water pressure was one thing that he did miss when he was on board Marmoran vessels for extended periods of time. Looking at the shower head it seemed as if Pidge had gotten it modified; even if she couldn't physically do it herself, with a father, brother and best friend who were also mechanical magicians and a foot taller than her it wasn't out of the question.  
  
When it came to opening the shower door to get out it was a little stiff, and he had to brace himself against the wall to push on it, aware that his leg was protesting very loudly by way of throbbing so hard he felt it in his ears. He had to sit again once he was out, perched on the edge of the toilet lid to dry himself, steadfastly looking anywhere but his left thigh and staring instead at the green robe hung on the back of the door.   
  
His datapad began to beep in his jacket pocket and he scrambled to his pile of discarded clothes to dig out out turn it off before Pidge could hear through the walls. It only took another moment of rooting around in the inside pockets to find the little capsule inside, shake a pill out and use the cup on the sink to swill it down. He caught a glimpse of his reflection in the mirror and scowled at it, throwing his towel back over his head and scrubbing vigorously at his wet hair.  
  
  
Pidge was in the kitchen area, dispensing an armful of mugs onto the side by the sink and she looked up when he reentered the room and sat on the sofa. She'd discarded her jacket and appeared to have been trying to tidy up a little; the piles of books were more uniform and her backpack sat open by the coffee table, yet more sheaves of paper stuffed into it.  
  
"Kosmo just... kinda poofed out, that's normal, yeah?"  
"Yeah, he does his own thing a lot." Keith nodded, plucking at the throw. "Sorry about the shedding. It's warmer here than the last place we were stationed."  
  
"No worries. I miss having a dog around." When he looked back up to argue that the wolf was not a dog, she'd crossed back to stand on the other side of the coffee table and was shaking a wooden tray at him.  
"Takeout drawer." She said, rattling the flyers and menus inside again. "I figured we'd order in, and tomorrow I can make a list, get some real stuff in. You want anything to drink? I have water, three different flavours of tea... Coke, beer- or coffee? Well, it's probably too late for coffee, but I don't know what hours you're keeping- I think there's a bottle of wine somewhere under the sink, I'm not a fan, but-"  
  
"Pidge." Keith interrupted, taking the drawer and watching as her rambling stuttered to a halt. "Relax. It's just me. I'm not some alien diplomat or like, the emperor of Mars that you need to please. Just me."  
"I know." She said, her empty hands fidgeting and twisting themselves around the hem of her shirt. "It's been a while since you- since I had any guests. You know- if you were staying at my mom's you'd be eating some delicious homemade dish in a spotless dining room right now- I definitely didn't get any of her hosting skills, and I just-"  
  
"It's OK." Keith stopped her again before her ramble could run away with her. "I'm definitely more of an 'eating pizza in semi-squalor' kind of guy."  
"Well good, because that's what's happening tonight." Pidge quirked a smile- finally, and knelt down by the coffee table, continuing to sort through her work as Keith thumbed through the leaflets in the drawer. He quickly zeroed in on a menu, and used his datapad to input an order of several very greasy sounding pizzas and sides for them to share. By the time he'd finished Pidge had cleared a space on the coffee table and had moved onto to the next pile of books on it, sorting through them and tucking notes into a folder.  
  
"What is all this, anyway?" Keith lifted a page of a textbook that had been left open at some sort of diagram. "A new project?" If he could get her talking about her work, she'd definitely relax.   
  
"Cybernetics and Nanotechnology." Pidge indicated the book he was looking at, and then raised the one in her hand. "And Neurology... And some standard Human Medicine. I wanted to branch out a little into other species- Altean and Galra would be the obvious choices, but I just don't have the time between classes and work. I want to design prosthetics." She added in response to his bewildered look. Sure enough, underneath the book he was looking at was another pad opened up to an outline of a human body, branches of nerves labelled and highlighted within.  
  
"Like for Shiro?" He noticed that the scribbled notes became more dense around the arm and torso area, Pidge's handwriting cramped close and too small for him to make out.  
"Well, anyone who needs them, but yeah- we've been talking and that's what I'm working on right now- designing and building a prototype for him; he's gonna be patient number one." Pidge stood up with a stack of books and carefully slotted them onto a shelf on the wall behind her. "And from what I heard, you were almost going to end up my patient number two."  
  
Keith stiffened, and he felt her gaze follow his hand as it gripped his thigh without permission from his brain.  
"Yeah, well," He muttered, "I'm fine, so I'm not. Gonna be number two, or whatever."  
"Don't get me wrong, I'm relieved about that. Your mom called me, after you confirmed you were coming here and filled me in on what she thought I needed to know."

  
  
Pidge made her way back and sat down on the edge of the coffee table, her knees dangerously close to his, hands clasped between her legs. He chose to glare stubbornly at the cover of _Localization of Clinical Neurology, _but he could feel her staring at his face, not moving or giving up on her gaze.  
  
"I'm glad she did, considering you neglected to mention to me that your planet leave was because you shattered your femur and spent two phoebs with metal screws in your leg."  
"Like I said, I'm fine. See any metal now?" He spread his hands out with a flourish, finally meeting her eye. "I heal fast- Galra genes."  
  
"You'd have healed faster if you hadn't kept pushing yourself- but I'm not gonna lecture you on that. Krolia told me you'd have appointments at the Medical Centre, and it's _because _you're Galra that it's imperative you go. You heal fast, but if you heal wrong at any point you'll be in trouble. She just wanted me to make sure you actually attend your appointments, and I'm working and studying there a lot anyway, so I said I'd give you a ride."  
  
"I can sort my own transport out; I'm not _six._" Keith sneered, but Pidge was unaffected.  
"No, you're not a child, but I know you. You're always putting everything else above your own comfort or safety. They've had to corral you on Earth just to stop you trying to do Blade stuff. Please, let me do this for you? It's honestly no bother having an extra person in the car, plus your mom is scarier than you and I _don't_ want to disappoint her."  
  
"I can't believe you're in cahoots with my mother."   
"Put it this way, Keith." Pidge said promptly, folding her arms. "When you saw that the lift was out today, knowing I live on the third floor- did you walk the stairs on your busted leg, or did you get Kosmo to take you up?"  
  
He knew he didn't have to answer. This was a trick question. In her eyes he could see she knew exactly what he'd done and was only asking him for dramatic effect- to win the argument and he had no comeback. She knew him. They might not have seen each other in... X'hal knew how long, but she was still able to go toe-to-toe with him when he got defensive and prickly.  
  
A doorbell rang, making Keith jump, and Pidge unfolded her arms to plant her hands on her knees and stand up. "You always put everything above yourself, Keith. Let us put you first for once, OK?"

  
  
Keith sat, listening to the low buzz of Pidge chatting with who he assumed was a delivery person. He _had _spent what felt like decaphoebs propped up with metal screws digging through his leg. In fact, he'd likely forever have metal implants to replace what couldn't be repaired. It had been infuriating. Every second spent cooped up in the medical ward had felt like days, and to have been booted out of his own missions, replaced so that they could carry on without him- well, he knew logically that it was the right decision, that to put everything on hold because of one man would be ridiculous, but it still stung, frustration still bubbled molten under his skin.   
The screws had come out and he'd been desperate to get back into action- it didn't even have to be out on the field, he'd take _anything. _And yet he was still being treated as if he was made of glass. He was still healing- he knew that, but how was he supposed to get better if nobody would let him get back into some sort of routine?  
  
OK, maybe he should have told Pidge the reason he needed somewhere to stay for a while was because he needed to attend physical therapy in the city. He'd really only mentioned he'd be visiting Earth to Shiro, who'd suggested asking Pidge about her spare room and then, obviously knowing Keith would feel awkward calling her out of the blue to ask, must have passed the message onto her because _she'd _called _him, _fresh from a stint on Olkari studying something he hadn't quite grasped_._ The next thing he'd known she was sending her Earth address, directions from the spaceport and he'd barely managed to get a word in. She'd bent over backwards for him, offering up her spare room without a thought and even when his mother had apparently called to tell her about his... condition, she'd still opened her door for him, and ready to fight, it seemed.  
  
Pidge returned with a small stack of boxes and bags and placed them on the coffee table, reaching underneath it for a moment and then with a low hum the table rose a few inches to make the food easier to reach.  
She flopped down on the couch next to him and passed him a drink from inside one of the bags. The snap and hiss of the cans opening broke the silence for a second, and Pidge was the first to lean over, pop open a box of garlic dough balls and dig in.

  
  
Keith was halfway through his first slice of pizza when he swallowed, put the slice down on his makeshift card plate and wiped his mouth.  
"Fine." He said. "If you're going the same way... It's practical to ride with you."   
"An excellent way of looking at it."   
  
She wasn't looking at him, just continued to pick the vegetables from her slice of pizza, eating them individually before folding up the slice to eat like that. He paused again.  
"I didn't mean to sound ungrateful, Pidge. I'm sorry."  
This time she shot him a sideways glance, brow raised as she casually crammed the whole slice into her mouth.  
  
"I've been stuck in a medical wing for ages. I was looking forward to a bit of freedom."  
"I told your mom I'd help you get to your appointments. There was never any talk of keeping you trapped in here or babysitting you. You're not the 'Emperor of Mars', and I don't have time for that."  
  
He grinned a little at her words, and she smirked back, wiping her fingers on one of the napkins that came in the bag.  
"Actually while we're on the subject, you got your datapad?"  
  
Keith fumbled a little in one of his larger pockets, unlocked the pad and passed it over into Pidge's open hand. He watched her tap at it for a few moments, and then hand it back.  
"There. You're all connected up to the apartment."  
"And... what does that mean?"  
"You've got access to everything. The internet, the locks, AC, coffee machine..." She shrugged, and then gave him a pointed look. "And you have my organizer. There's bus schedules, cab numbers, maps. Shops, parks, libraries- anything you want, it's in there."  
  
"Thanks, Pidge."   
"Don't mention it." She said, and continued tearing at the slice of pizza in her hand. For a while they ate in silence, Keith pretending to browse through the programs Pidge had connected him to, and chancing glances at her whenever she leaned over the table for her drink or a barbecue wing. 

  
  
She looked tired- hair raked haphazardly out of her eyes underlined with purple, and yet she was twitchy and uncharacteristically weird about her mess. Clutter was usual for Pidge, but her caring what other people thought about it was not. Perhaps him staying here was a bad idea. Perhaps he should have found somewhere else to stay. He couldn't even remember the last time they'd spent any time together-   
  
"The wedding." Pidge said, unprompted, leaning back on the sofa and shooting him a grin. "We last saw each other two years ago, at Matt and Shiro's wedding."   
"Shit." Keith breathed. "That long?" and Pidge shrugged at him.  
"We got busy. It happens."   
"I bet you saw Hunk like, last week though." Keith countered with a frown. Two years? Granted most of this year he'd been holed up in a medical ward, in and out of healing pods and surgeries, but something hot was creeping up his neck anyway.  
"Mmm, I think last November? There was a winter gourmet market in London that he wanted to go to, then he stopped off at his parents, and then here." Pidge tapped her chin, and continued as he opened his mouth again. "Lance was here in the summer. Buuut, you'd be right if under 'last week' we're including video chats. You never video chat with us."  
"Not very interesting chatting from a hospital bed." He grumbled.  
"Might have passed the time for you." And again Keith paused to try and formulate a response, watching Pidge roll her eyes at him with a half smile. "Still, it'd be nice to hear _from you _occasionally, instead of _about _you from Shiro or Allura, or a Blade report. I'm not holding it against you." She added, stretching her arms out and rolling her neck with a yawn.   
  
Pidge systematically piled slices of pizza into spaces inside other boxes, stacking the empty ones up on the floor beside her. It was a short walk to the kitchen area to tuck the boxes in the refrigerator, and she leaned on the half-wall behind the couch to look at him.  
  
"Well, I'm gonna try and get some shut eye. Keyword here being 'try'. If you need anything just bang on my door, I'll likely still be awake. You know, the couch pulls out if you don't like the bed-"  
"You're doing the twitchy host thing again, Pidge." Keith said, his lips turning up. "I'll be fine- I'll probably turn in myself in a moment. Long trip and all."  
Pidge nodded, cheeks colouring a little where she tapped on the surface of the wall.  
"OK. Well, I gotta be up early so if I don't see you in the morning..." She trailed off, and Keith nodded.  
"Go sleep, Pidge."  
Her face softened for a second, eyes looking him up and down and lingering for a moment on his face. "Sure thing. Goodnight, Keith."  
She ran a hand through her hair and turned, pulling the biros out of the elastic tie as she went, disappearing into her room. 

  
  
Keith watched the space where she'd closed the door on him, sucking his lip in between his teeth. Two years. Had it really been two years since he'd seen his friends?  
No, he distinctly remembered seeing Allura and Coran at a Coalition gathering, a big one, a few phoebs before his injury. Hunk and Lance had been there too. And as Captain of the Atlas he spoke with Shiro on a frequent basis.  
Pidge was a different case, he supposed. She'd been traveling- he knew that much, but the galaxies were many and vast, and their goals had been different. He'd gone out to help, to fight. Pidge had gone to see, to learn.   
As he looked around the little apartment, he could see pieces of the little life she was making for herself- books bound with materials not found on Earth, pictures on the mantel of her and her father on a planet with a purple sky and two suns. A map of starlines from the Olkari horizon.   
A photograph from the wedding; Matt with his hair in a sleek braid and silk tie around his neck, Shiro a sculpted Adonis in a white suit and starlight hair, their arms around their respective Best Men. Him and Pidge. Clad in matching charcoal suits, though in his memory Pidge had worn hers better than him- the four of them all grinning at each other instead of the camera, the Holts with their matching crooked smiles, Matt and Shiro positively beaming at each other. Pidge had sworn her red-rimmed eyes were from all the flowers- the bouquets, centerpieces, and white blossoms woven into her brother's hair, but he'd seen her take the double-strength antihistamine before the ceremony.   
  
His eyes burned and he dragged his fingers across them and pinched the bridge of his nose. He hadn't been lying; he _was _tired, had traveled for a long time today. Even with wormhole ports situated across the galaxy, it had taken a couple of jumps to get him to Earth. He stood up, ignoring the stiffness in his leg, instead just waiting a second before taking a step so that the damn thing didn't buckle under him again.  
  
The windows in the bedroom were opened just a crack, a slight breeze circulating the room and feeling cool on his face. It had been a long time since he'd experienced an Earth summer, and not one spent in the desert, flopped on top of the musty covers of a bed in the middle of the day, clothes discarded in favor of lying under a window and trying to catch even the weakest of winds from it. For now he only stripped his shirt off, leaving his pants on, pulled back the covers and crawled carefully into bed, settling into a newfound position on his back, the least likely to jostle his leg at night. The scent of laundry detergent was foreign in his nose, but oddly comforting as he gazed blankly through heavy eyelids at the ceiling in the dark.  
  
It was never silent on a spaceship, not really. There was the purr of engines, the hum of oxygen filters and electric lights and crew members going about their duty. Instead his ears were filled with the slightly muffled sounds of traffic, civilians coming and going without schedule, the odd thump through the wall he assumed must be Pidge still lumbering around despite her intent to sleep. It would all be difficult to shut out if he weren't so exhausted.  
  
He closed his eyes to the surroundings, and slept.

*


	2. Under Attack

*

He was pretty sure it was the thumps that woke him up- or was it the clattering?  
  
Either way something had woken Keith, and when his eyes finally focused there was a tick where adrenaline prickled from his face down into his gut, panicking at the unfamiliar surroundings. This was not his usual quarters. The smells in his nose were not of metal and processed oxygen, but of something woody and natural, foreign yet at the same time familiar.  
  
Inhale. He was on Earth, and probably not under attack.  
Exhale. This was the spare room in Pidge's apartment; if he was under attack, he'd have backup.

  
  
Inhale. The reason he couldn't move and he felt so stiff was that he'd twisted himself up in the sheets.  
Exhale. Scratch that- the reason he felt so stiff was that he was due his meds. Though healed now, his ribs still occasionally hummed with a low level of discomfort, and Medics had told him that headaches wouldn't be out of the norm thanks to the fresh scar on the back of his head. His leg though, fuck, his leg.  
As he rolled to untwist himself from the comforter it was like he could hear the way it felt like his flesh was grinding on itself, and he couldn't help the little gasp and flinch, a pause before rolling again.  
  
The mornings were always worse. Usually once he'd let his meds kick in and found coffee he felt better, but those first moments trying to get up were just exhausting.  
By the time he'd thrown the covers back and sat up, gingerly turning until his legs could hang over the side of the bed, he was alert enough to register the sound of a door closing and locking. Probably Pidge, leaving for... Whatever she was doing? Work? School? He wasn't sure.  
  
There were no more sounds around the house as he wiped his face with his hands, pushing his hair out of his eyes and peering around for his datapad.   
0730 hours, and new messages from Shiro, Hunk, Lance, Romelle and his mother. At Hunk's _'say hi to Pidge for me! Maybe I can get time off and come see you two!'_ he frowned. So the others knew he was here.  
His vision blurred again as he squinted at Shiro's message, so he discarded the pad and looked around for the end table. Damnit.  
Back on base he'd gotten into the routine of leaving out a water pouch and his morning prescription so that even on his worst days he could roll over, take everything and then burrow back down into a grouchy and miserable doze. Last night he'd been so exhausted and overwhelmed by the long day traveling that he had completely forgotten to do anything of the sort.  
  
He reached for his crutch and heaved himself out of bed and out into the apartment. The empty pizza boxes were still on the floor by the table and, pill in his mouth, he picked up one of the soda cans, gulping down the flat syrupy drink. He downed the rest, letting the thick liquid replace the taste of sleep in his mouth with one only a little less gross.

  
A scuffling sound came from behind him and he whipped around, listening.   
It came again, from behind the door to Pidge's room, left ajar.  
"...Pidge? You there?"   
There was no answer as he stepped closer to the door, just another shuffle from behind it. He reached out a hand towards the door, and then stopped. A thought occurred to him.   
  
What if she'd had someone over? He couldn't just barge into her room, wild hair sticking out at all angles, shirtless and waving a crutch to terrify some poor unsuspecting soul.   
Another clatter, and he frowned.  
"Hello?" Equally, it could be some strange invention of hers, accidentally left on. There was no answer, but a movement was visible through the crack in the door and he decided to Hell with it, and pushed it open.  
  
There _was_ someone in Pidge's bed. A very large someone rolling around on their back in the sheets, all legs akimbo and tongue lolling out. Blue fur rose in clouds to float around the dim room and catch on the bedclothes.  
  
The wolf caught Keith staring in the doorway and immediately stopped shuffling his shoulder blades along the bed like a cartoon bear in a children's movie and sat up, looking sheepish.   
  
Keith folded his arms as best he could. "So this is where you've been. Did you sleep here all night?"   
The wolf cocked his head, stepping down from the bed to butt his head against Keith's right leg.  
"Traitor," Keith grumbled, "c'mon, let's find some food. And coffee."  
  
He looked up at Keith, sticking close. Medics had been hard pressed to keep him out of the ward, especially given his powers and even now was walking nearby as if worried Keith would fall over at any moment. He patted the wolf's wide head, combing his fingers through silver fur.  
"Yeah, I know. I'll feel better once I get some caffeine. We're on Earth now. Fresh start, let's be more positive- stop wallowing, yeah?"  
The wolf chuffed to him in agreement and led the way to the kitchen.  
  
Cold Earth pizza was better than he remembered. Keith leaned back on the counter, listening to the coffee machine warm up as he chewed slowly on the cheese, tearing pieces off and throwing them for the wolf to catch.  
He put the empty box on the counter and immediately the wolf pushed his snout against it, looking for more.   
"OK, I'll get you another slice, but let's save some for Pidge?" He lowered himself down to the level of the fridge that was tucked under the counter, reaching for the other boxes.   
  
Another smell that wasn't pizza wafted out and made his nose wrinkle, and he put the boxes on the floor to his side, reached in and grabbed a browning lettuce.   
  
"Ugh, what does she even eat?" He grumbled, pulling another packet of... something out. It didn't smell great either, the clear plastic wrapper was bloated and had clouded over with condensation on the inside.   
He sat back, staring into the back of the fridge for a moment. He'd already thought about taking the empty pizza boxes out to the communal trash chutes he'd seen on his way up yesterday, stretch his legs a little, keep them moving... He could take the food that was past its best at the same time.   
  
"Hey bud, fancy a walk through the building-?" He leaned back to look round the fridge door, and then groaned. The wolf was sitting triumphantly by a now-empty pizza box.   
"Aaand a trip to find something for dinner tonight?"  
  
He had the decency to look a little ashamed, flattening his ears and resting his chin on the empty greasy cardboard box. Or maybe he was just pissed that there was now no pizza left at all.   
Keith sighed, and gripped the counters to lift himself back up. A bit of rummaging through the drawers in the kitchen yielded him a trash bag and he emptied the fridge's sparse contents into it.  
  
Now he was no saint when it came to taking care of himself, he'd admit that. He sipped at his coffee at the kitchen table, eyes on the full trash bag. Pidge seemed to be on a similar level, if her fridge was anything to go by. Or the tabletop, come to think of it. It was piled with papers, and there were rings on the bleached surface where she'd obviously missed the coaster.  
  
Underneath, the apartment and the furnishings were all modern, nice- sleek but not alien. Yet it somehow managed to remind him of his old shack back in the desert, coated and obscured by work and grime. He'd always been too caught up, too close to really take much notice of his surroundings and when he did, well there was too much to do and cleaning went to the bottom of the list.  
  
Now though, he had no work. He received vague updates of missions and would send back his own opinions and recommendations, but he knew they were careful not to send _too _much information in case he came storming back in to help. His first PT session here on Earth wasn't until Monday. Any thoughts of his usual pursuits- exercising, running, training- were completely out of the question.   
Nope, stop- he'd said to the wolf hadn't he? 'Stop wallowing'. He couldn't just sit around all day, twiddling his thumbs and feeling sorry for himself.  
  
Yellow eyes were trained on him as he limped to the sink to rinse his mug out, and then let the running water heat up as he carefully fished pots, cutlery and mugs out of the sink and plugged the drain.  
  
  
*  
  
Pidge was exhausted. The lab was finally ready, as far as cleaning out and setting up the deliveries of supplies. The crates she'd brought back from Olkari stacked in the cryo-chamber, tools on their pegs. The skeleton she'd spent the week printing, adjusting and binding was propped up on its custom mount, ready for the next steps.  
  
The computers were running, processing the months of work, notes and calculations one by one. She had one more folder of diagrams to go, and then-   
The papers weren't here. She quickly scanned through the boxes and binders she'd had brought in over the last few days, and nothing- gone, missing? Lost? Where-  
  
They were at home. She'd been looking over them at the table the other night, and when she'd woken up late this morning, pressed against a snuffling snoozing wolf she'd forgotten to collect them up before leaving.   
Damn it.  
  
Pidge fidgeted from one foot to the other, chewing on a hangnail. She could drive back now, go get them and then... lose nearly an hour just in travel, and then when the night guards started their shift she'd likely get kicked out for the evening... She groaned as she rubbed her eyes under her glasses. Ugh, why this.   
  
The terminal pinged and she moved to answer it. The monitor lit up with Shiro's face, smiling into the camera screen.  
"Pidge, hey. Figured you'd still be at the lab. What time is it over there? Eight?"  
Pidge glanced at the clock on the screen. "About a quarter to."   
"Aaaand you've been working since?" Shiro trailed off, raising his eyebrows to prompt a response. Pidge grinned guiltily in response.  
"I plead the fifth."  
"Pidge." Shiro rolled his eyes. "Are you at least taking breaks? How are you- you doing OK?"  
  
The smile melted from Pidge's face as her eyes narrowed, recognizing his tone of voice- conspicuously innocent, attempting to sound casual but coming off just a little too high. Every time.  
"I'm fine." She replied shortly. "You don't have to keep asking."  
"That's not what I-"  
"It's exactly what you're doing. I'm fine, Shiro. Great, even."  
"Well that's good-"  
"Yes. It is. So stop getting on my ass every time you call."  
  
Shiro seemed to deflate for a moment, shoulders sinking and lips coming dangerously close to a sad pout and Pidge had to wonder if she was being too mean. In the next second though he was sitting back up straight, jaw set but eyes still kind.  
"You know I'm coming from a place of love, right? I care about you, and so does Matt, plus now you've got Keith staying with you-"  
  
"What does Keith have to do with any of this?" Pidge frowned up at the screen. "What- you sent him to spy on me or something? Because he'll tell you- the apartment is still standing, I'm upright- he ordered us a mountain of pizza last night, and I got through a whole box of garlic bites _and_ went to bed before him."   
She could feel herself starting to shake. It wasn't anyone's business what she did with her life? She knew Shiro meant well, of course he did. He always did but she couldn't help but feel a little blindsided- it was late, she was tired and he chose right now to pry into her business in case she'd managed to fuck her life up or something in the two days since she'd last spoken to him and Matt?  
  
"If you'd let me finish," Shiro was saying, raising his hands in a peace sign to her accusatory pointing, "no, I didn't _send _Keith to 'spy on you', but I was hoping having him around might prompt you to take more time off- spend time together. If anything I was hoping you'd be able to keep an eye on him. You'll be able to understand what it's like to bu-"  
  
"Keith's an adult and he doesn't need a babysitter, Shiro." Pidge grunted. "But obviously I'm gonna be watching out for him- after everything Krolia told me, after seeing the medical reports- he could have _died. _I-" Pidge faltered, looking around her at the office, the cold blue light from the screens and the empty work table. "Shiro, I'm probably not the best person to be taking care of someone else. Especially not Keith because you know how he'll react if he thinks someone's trying to hold his hand. He already got defensive about it last night."  
"I disagree, Pidge. I think that he's much safer with you. You already know him- what he's like, and I'm hoping that if he needed anything it might be easier for him to swallow his pride and ask someone he trusts, than a stranger on a base."  
  
Pidge was still trying to ease the cold pit in her stomach at the memory of the reports, of the hard line of Krolia's mouth on the holoscreen and realizing she could have lost one of her closest friends. She'd thought the same- that at least if she let him stay with her, he could have his own space and maybe be slightly more comfortable with someone he knew, instead of sitting alone on a military base dealing with this shit.  
"Whatever you're thinking I was planning, it's not the case. Keith said he was coming to Earth, I knew you had a spare room and that you're way less nosy than the likes of Hunk or Lance- I just figured you'd be a good fit; you know how to deal with each other."  
  
"OK, OK." Pidge ran her hands through her hair, pressing the heel of her hands into her eyes. "I believe you. You're just popping in to say hi, and you didn't send Keith to spy on me."  
Shiro's face softened as she talked, and as she mentioned Keith's name he smiled again.   
"How is he? I sent a message but he's not responded."  
"Grumpy." Pidge said. "Tired. He's probably slept all day; you know, sleep the journey off. He looks like hell."  
"I don't doubt it, I saw the reports."   
"He's on _crutches._" Pidge leaned back on one of the desks as she spoke. It was kind of scary to see him like that, if Pidge was being honest. He'd lost weight- it was visible in his face and his battered biker jacket seemed to hang off him more than she last remembered. Lance used to claim that Keith's silent movement would cause a heart attack one day but last night the thump of the crutch and a heavy footstep preceded him into the room, loud and ungainly. It must be infuriating to have his agency limited like that.  
  
"Not too tired to get into trouble though. Apparently he kept ending back in the Medical bay because he wouldn't take it easy."  
Shiro pushed his hair back out of his eyes as they spoke, frowning at something past the camera. He looked as tired as Pidge suddenly felt, pushing her glasses up over her hair to pinch the bridge of her nose again.  
"Krolia told me about it." She answered and Shiro nodded. "Said even when she went to visit to try and hammer some sense into him he just wouldn't listen."  
"Sounds like Keith. Tell him I said hi, and that I should be getting leave- Matt and I both- so we can come see you two."   
"And your new arm?"   
"Yes, the new arm too. How's it coming along?"   
  
"I was just realizing I've left the last bit of paperwork behind at home, so I can't complete the data upload until I go get it."   
Pidge glanced across at the screen that had been running the estimates. It was already done and pinging to itself merrily as it waited for more files. Remembering the files on the table at home made her eye twitch.  
Shiro raised a silver eyebrow. "I'm surprised it isn't all digital already."  
"You know I like the feel of a pen on paper, and swapping helps prevent cramping. I could have easily left a disc or drive at home too, though."   
"True, I guess. It sounds like a good excuse to finish for the night though- go get some dinner. Keep Keith company, and from ending up back in traction." Shiro added, to Pidge's snort.  
"OK, OK, get off my back. I'll go home. I need to write a grocery list tonight anyway."  
"How domestic of you."  
"I'm signing off now, Shiro."  
"Goodnight, Pidge."  
  
OK, little pause for tonight. She stopped by the displayed arm and closed the protective sheet over it. She felt bad for snapping at Shiro. Frustrated that she'd let herself be so short with him when he was just looking out for her, the way he always had. Tired after a full day working. Maybe a rest. Heat up some leftover pizza and let her eyes rest- maybe Kosmo would be up for a snuggle on the couch, but first- those files.  
  
  
*  
  
Keith surveyed the sluggishly bubbling pan, dipping the ladle in to stir the sauce around. It was looking good; his dad would have been pleased with his work.  
The wolf regarded him from his apparent new favourite spot on the couch. He had seemed to enjoy their day- sticking his head down the garbage chutes to try to see where the pizza boxes had gone, walking ahead of him into the market to be greeted by other patrons' panicked looks. Leaning his shoulders against Keith's good side when he needed a break and something to take his weight for a moment. He looked less pleased now that Keith had emptied the mince into a pan to cook, and had only given him a single, solitary, three handfuls of it...  
  
"No." Keith said, in response to the silent ear flick. "You've eaten loads today. This is supposed to replace the _whole _pizza you ate."  
The wolf huffed, and disappeared with a pop.  
  
Keith rolled his eyes and placed the ladle down, returning to the now clean table where he could perch on a high stool and sip at his drink.  
  
A beeping tone sounded as the door lock disengaged, and footsteps sounded from the hall.   
Pidge wandered in, arm dragging down under the weight of her backpack and her free hand swiping over her eyes in fatigue.  
"Hey-" he started, but Pidge had opened her eyes and was staring blankly at the kitchen. Her face went slack, gaze roaming over the pristine table.  
  
"No, no no no, no- wh-where are my files? What did you do?"  
"I cleaned a bit- these files?" Keith indicated the pile he'd gingerly lifted from the table to clean underneath them, and then replaced once the surface was dry. OK, so they were now on the opposite end of the table, but was that really so bad-?  
  
"You moved them? I swear to God Keith, if they're out of order-" Pidge was practically vaulting around the stools to get to them as Keith watched her, nonplussed. OK, so maybe it was that bad?  
"They're not, I promise. I literally moved them a few inches so I could clean the table?"  
  
"Nobody asked you to!" Pidge snapped back, snatching up the pile and feverishly thumbing through them, eyes scanning in rows too fast for him to follow. Keith realised his mouth had been hanging slightly open as he watched her tornado around the table, and he closed it, starting to get annoyed. "If any of these numbers are out of order I'll have to redo it all!"  
"They're all still in order, I literally picked the whole pile up at once and moved them to the other end of the table, Pidge- come on, I know how fucking anal you are about your stuff-"  
  
"Oh, _I'm_ anal?!" Pidge rounded on him and he stood up instinctively, arms folded as he stared her down. Her face was turning steadily more red and her eyes overly bright, but right now the emotion she was shaking with seemed to be pure agitated fury.  
"Yeah, you are- that's why I _didn't _mess with them, because I knew you'd act like this!"  
"I'm not the one that went all Martha Stewart in my kitchen- if I'm anal, then you're- you're" Pidge fumbled for a moment as she stopped to draw breath. "I don't know what the fuck you are, and I'd hate to waste brain cells thinking too hard!"  
  
"Yeah, well at least I'm not-" Pidge turned on her heel even as Keith retorted, storming out of the kitchen area and to her room where she slammed the door shut. "-keeping... rotten food in my fridge..."  
He trailed off with a growl, fists clenched and itching to wave or flail in frustration. The pan lid chose that moment to start rattling under the heat of the food and he whipped around to catch it and lower the heat, pouring his energy and focus into making sure the food wasn't ruined instead.   
  
Fucking Pidge, just coming home and laying into him like that. What the hell was her problem? If those files were so important, leaving them on a dirty table when she had a large blue, nosy wolf hanging around her apartment was a stupid idea. Of course he knew Pidge had a sort of...chaotic order when it came to her ongoing projects. That's why he'd picked them up, one hand under the pile and the other clamped on the top, and fork-lifted them to the clean spots. The last thing he'd want is to compromise her work, but once he'd started cleaning it had been hard to stop. Washing his mug had led to him finishing off the whole sink load, and then scrubbing down the surfaces and the draining board.   
On his hunt for rice he'd located a broom and mop living in the tall, slim pantry in the corner and that job had been quite easy- the long poles gave him something to lean on and take his time and that time had ticked on far faster than if he'd just flopped back on his bed or on the couch and done nothing all day. Same when he'd ventured out with the trash, and continued on for a food hunt. He'd leaned over the shopping cart, letting it roll him along and revel in the surrealness of being in an Earth supermarket- breathing in the smell of aircon and linoleum aisles, listening to the tannoy and looking at every sign and display as if he was an alien visiting for the first time, not an earthling returning after however many years.  
  
The food was all but done, and he looked over at the locked door with a frown. He didn't much feel like apologizing, but he had made this food with her in mind... Aaand for slightly self-indulgent reasons.   
Maybe he had gone a little overboard. He figured perhaps guests didn't usually take over the kitchen when staying over, unless their name was Hunk. This _was _her apartment, full of her personal things.   
  
He spent a few moments pressing his forehead to one of the cabinets in the kitchen, breathing hard through his nose, though it didn't help much due to the humidity in the air from his cooking. Then he turned on his heel and made for the door.

*

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've been unable to post for a few days due to the maintenance that AO3 has been going under D:
> 
> Pidge's situation is very much a "straw that broke the camel's back"- she does not have it as together as you might think and Keith, when faced with the inability to do his normal stress relief activities (fighting shit and physical exertion) has found himself a nervous cleaner. Gotta get rid of the energy somehow.
> 
> (also if you've read The Little Things you'll know I hc Keith can and enjoys cooking when he has the time, mostly stuff his dad taught him)
> 
> I've already written two smutty scenes (and some sfw chapters) and there was a LOOOOONG discord thread a while back about some other, truly gross stuff that's gonna happen. This is gon be explicit.


	3. Made of Glass

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The argument is resolved.

He'd barely risen his fist to knock when the door slid open- shit. Pidge's eyes were rimmed red, tell-tale streaks on her face visible even as she stood, chin tucked into her collar and staring at the floor. 

_"-Pidge, I made-" "-Keith I'm so -"_

They both spoke at once, paused and then launched again. 

_"-No, listen Keith-" "-'Drop it for a moment, I have-"_

"Will you shut up for a second- I'm trying to apologize, you asshole." Pidge finally cut him off as she glared up at him, and at Keith's derisive snort she groaned. "Ugh, great start."

Pidge leaned against the door frame for a moment, arms hugging around herself, picking at the skin around her fingernails with her thumb.

"I'm sorry I yelled. It wasn't- I just... None of that was about _you_. I know that's not an excuse, there is no excuse- it doesn't matter how tired I am, or pissed- I shouldn't have..."

"It's fine- really. Let's just drop it, OK? I made dinner and it's gonna go cold if we stand here talking all night." Keith jerked his head back towards the kitchen; the rice was currently _perfect_ but wouldn't stay that way long-

"You cooked?" Pidge said faintly, staring past him to the kitchen, and then back to him as though not sure she believed what she was seeing. "You cleaned out my kitchen, and made dinner... Jesus, I'm such an asshole."

"Mostly because the wolf ate all the leftovers- listen, Pidge. Maybe..." He sighed heavily, trying to phrase this as delicately as he could. Not that he was very good at this sort of stuff, but the fact that she'd been crying was something even Keith couldn't be oblivious to. Pidge didn't cry just because someone interrupted her stuff- well, not unless there was more going on. Usually with Pidge her tears directly correlated to how tired she was. Her snapping over a moved file indicated that she was stressed, and he couldn't help but feel like it was to do with his presence.

"Maybe I should find somewhere else- no offense, but you're clearly tired, and super busy, and maybe it'd be easier on you if I got somewhere else to stay- maybe I can call in a favor from Iverson or something."

"You'd rather go to the Garrison." That faint voice was back, a look of hurt flickering over her face before she growled at herself, gripping at her own hair. "Fuck, damnit- I didn't... Keith I'm sorry. I was so _happy_ you were coming to Earth, and all I've done is pick fights with you since you got here- this isn't, I don't- please, don't feel like you're a burden, I promise you're not."

"Pidge, this project is clearly important, I don't want to get in your way." 

"You're not! I mean it, you're not- today was just so busy OK? Half of the supplies that came today are wrong so I've had to sort that out, I've been trying to deal with that and my knowledge of Tantian dialects is rusty so I had to try and translate everything back and forth, and then I left files I needed at home and then I snapped at Shiro, and then felt bad about it-"

"You fought with Shiro?" Keith raised his eyebrow and Pidge blanched- clearly she hadn't meant to let that slip.

"It was nothing- really. Like I said, bad day."

Keith looked at her again. She seemed to be quickly dialing back up into a distraught state, eyes glossing over with the threat of tears and lip and fingers shaking. There was still a small flame of annoyance in his chest over the way she'd spoken to him, her obvious lack of trust in that moment that he'd know not to wreck her work, but it was starting to fizzle out. Was it really worth hauling ass out of her apartment to go sit in the dreary off-white and orange barracks of the Garrison, where people would stare whenever he ventured out? Or to a motel in a part of the city he'd not seen in two years? 

"Let's draw a line in the sand, OK?"

Pidge let go of a chunk of hair she'd seemed dangerously close to pulling out of her head. "What?" 

"Let's just... Forget the last twenty-four hours happened, like I just got here." When she didn't respond, he thrust out his hand towards her. 

"Hey Pidge, thanks for inviting me to stay with you. It's so great to see you again; I've missed you."

Pidge looked to his hand, and then back up at him, lip still wobbling. Then she completely forewent the proffered handshake and threw her arms around his waist, pressing her face into his chest. 

"I've missed you too." She croaked, and Keith wrapped his arms around her in turn, resting his chin on her head. 

"Hey, I know I just arrived," he said cajolingly, "but I made us some food. I can bring you a plate to eat in your room if you want." he paired the offer with a small squeeze around her shoulders, and Pidge leaned back to look up at him. 

"Actually, I have another idea? I'll show you where we can eat. If you want to, you know, eat together?"

He nodded, watching as she ducked out from under his arms to circle round him, back into the living area and to a curtain he'd not noticed before. She tugged it aside to reveal a glass door and waved him to come closer.

It was a terrace balcony, floor to ceiling glass separating them from the outside world- wait, it wasn't glass, but something else, something that shimmered faintly as a breeze carried through, but any noise from traffic below did not. Plants climbed up the three real walls around them, mostly green but splashes of colour jumped out, petals and vines twisting and curling and-

"These are from Olkari." Keith gazed up at a blooming flower, and then down to put a hand out gingerly to a spiny potted plant. "And this is from Daibazaal, right?"

"Correct." Pidge was nodding as he looked back at her. "My mom always says a house isn't a home without a garden, so we converted the balcony when I bought the place. It's quiet, and these plants don't really make 'pollen' per se, so they can't kill me. I meant to show you earlier, I figured you'd like it."

"I do." He smiled at a plant that seemed to be emitting a low purr as the leaves stretched out. There was a small table near the center of the floor, and Pidge patted the back of one of the three chairs tucked up to it.

"Thought we could eat here."

Keith nodded, and then whipped around as he remembered, "shit, the food!" 

He thought he might even have heard a laugh as he made for the door.

*

"It smells great," Pidge craned her neck as Keith spooned the chili on top of the rice. She'd helped him juggle plates and the pans into the terrace, and thankfully it was still steaming and the rice still looked good. "I didn't realize you could cook."

"My dad's recipe." Keith replied, looking into the pot. "It's one of my favourites, and my mom's too so we put our heads together a while ago and made a... passable imitation."

He couldn't help the small smile as Pidge brought a piled forkful to her mouth and hummed as she chewed, shoulders sinking into her chair.

"It tastes so good." She sighed as Keith pulled his own plate closer.

"I don't get to make it often- I wouldn't know where to start getting ingredients out in space."

"Mm, Hunk might be able to help find substitutes, but he'd probably beg you for the recipe- this is amazing. You... cooked with your dad a lot?"

"He liked to experiment with what we had, sometimes roadkill- whatever was available." He half expected her to grimace, but she nodded in a '_sounds practical_' sort of manner. "He made great grilled chicken."

"I'd love to try it. I mean, if you're still up for staying here."

Pidge's smile was just teetering on the edge of nervous, but Keith nodded quickly in what he hoped was a reassuring manner.

"Yeah, sure. That'd be great. I... probably should have warned you about the cleaning thing. Got a lot of nervous energy, you know? I annoyed a lot of people on base because I couldn't 'keep my hands to myself'."

"Don't apologize." Pidge said immediately, lowering her fork. "I've been the asshole today, not you."

"I just got here, remember?" Keith shot back, and she huffed a little laugh. "Honestly, I'm willing to believe you're not yourself, especially if you've been fighting with everyone else, too."

"You're not gonna let the Shiro comment go, are you?" 

"I'm just... surprised."

It was true. They normally got on so well. Pidge had gravitated towards Shiro even before he'd remembered who she was. Their relationship had been solid from the get-go, with Pidge's complete trust in him, and vice-versa. Honestly sometimes in the early days it had been hard not to feel a small pang of jealousy whenever Shiro had shown off about her to others, his pride in her practically radiating from within. 

He realised he was still staring at her; Pidge was meeting his gaze, chewing on the inside of her lip and she inhaled as if to speak, paused and closed her mouth, before repeating the motion.

"A while ago, I... Got sick. Like, pretty bad." He could almost see the way her mind was working, the way she was picking her words and seemed to be speaking them with such difficulty.

"I don't really remember most of it; I was pretty out of it. There were hospital stays and stuff."

Keith didn't respond, just watched Pidge fiddle with her fork as she avoided looking at him. She'd been sick? Sick enough to go to hospital? And he hadn't known? Lance had needed his appendix out a few years back and he'd never heard the end of it for weeks after. Yet he'd never heard a peep about Pidge being actually unwell. 

"I had to leave the place I was renting- go stay with my parents while I recovered. I... lost the contract I'd been working on for the Garrison because I was so behind. It took a while for me to get back on my feet, but Shiro and Matt were there a lot."

"Why didn't I know about this?" Keith frowned, and Pidge set her jaw.

"I'm glad you didn't- the others have been so weird about it. You know Hunk wouldn't even say the word 'Garrison' around me, in case I got upset? It's stupid! I got better; the Garrison had to pay me for the work I had done and the parts they wanted to keep- so I bought this place, I started working towards my medical field licenses, I'm fine now and I'm actually happier now I'm not under their stupid thumb, but..."

She shook her head and turned it to stare out of the windows and at the streams of light below them. "Shiro- I don't know. I don't know if it's his Leader-y instincts kicking in, or if he feels guilty for something but, he's still being weird. He checks up on me as if he thinks I'm gonna re- get like that again. People just keep treating me like... like..."

"Like you're made of glass." Keith said finally, and Pidge looked around at him, brow furrowing and then going slack as she realised. He shrugged it off and went back to mixing the food together on his plate. "Same boat. I've never been like this. I've always just been strapped up and put back out to work, but this time is so different. I didn't even remember the incident at first, I just woke up in the medbay to find I'd been unconscious for days and my mom and Kolivan had to sign off on like five different surgeries. I couldn't even go in a pod if one had been available - there was too much needed fixing manually.

"I'm not an idiot, I know I can't go back out into the field like this but... I feel like they could give me something, you know? Everyone was trying to wrap me in cotton wool- keeping me in the med bay, not letting me see reports at first- I hated it. I'd even take desk work, but-" He trailed off with a sigh.

Pidge nodded along. "I get it, the last thing I wanted was for you to feel coddled while you're here, not that I've made you feel welcome otherwise."

"Honestly? I'm kinda glad that _that_ happened." Keith said. It was a thought that had occurred to him as they'd sat down, and it was a thought that wouldn't leave. "I mean, I'm not... glad but, you yelling at me was-" His fork waved aimlessly in the air as he tried to collect the thought and put it into words. "You're not tiptoeing around me, like everyone else is. I'm hoping we got it out of our systems, but it's almost a relief, knowing you're not going to treat me like I'm 'made of glass'."

"I could never." Pidge smirked over at him. "Sharp spikes, maybe."

"Oh. and are you rusty nails?" Keith leaned his chin on his hand over the table and grinned at her and all at once things seemed to click back into place; Pidge's grin far more like her usual one- self-assured and a little snarky. The laughter was no longer forced or bitter; they slipped back into their banter as easily as breathing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short because I want to get to the horny pining. Pidge is intentionally leaving details out about exactly what happened.

**Author's Note:**

> I just want to write Keith being an asshole and Pidge not really knowing what to do with herself when guests come into her space.


End file.
